Serendipity (Karlnapity Fantasy AU)

Chapter 5

Gently the water sloshed around him, adapting to his movements. Moonlight shone through the milk-white glass walls onto the indoor pool and made his wet wings sparkle. Sighing, Quackity wiped the wet hair from his face. He felt weightless in the water. As if nothing, not even his wings could keep him from flying. He was cursed by his puny body and yet he was blessed by his love of swimming.

Quackity closed his eyes and let himself fall backward. He imagined jumping from a high building. Deeper and deeper until he was embraced by the depths of the sea. He let the air escape from his body, small bubbles rose to the surface and he slowly glided to the bottom of the pool. It became deeper and deeper and calmer. He was now surrounded by thousands of liters of water, complete silence and alone with his thoughts. Slowly he wrapped his wings around his body and looked up into the moonlight.

Quackity wasn't particularly good at anything. He was bad at flying and best at swimming, but no better than the fish hybrids or mermaids here. Aside from academic achievement, his relationships all failed and real friendships were hard.
Love is a curse. He repeated these words like a mantra and even now, he formed the words with his lips.

After some time in weightlessness, he ran out of air. With momentum, he shot to the surface, while the water cried out in shock and sloshed around wildly on the surface. Like a mass of excited crows, the water spread in waves around him. A smile crept onto his face. Slowly he turned in a circle, running his hand over the surface of the water and swirling it. He would have kept going if a shadow had not appeared in the corner of his eye. Startled, Quackity whirled to the entrance of the swimming pool hall.

Karl stood there in black swimming shorts, his arms held nervously in front of his body. Determined, but with his eyes fixed on the ground, he walked toward the edge of the pool and stopped just before the water could touch his feet. Quackity looked up at Karl.
"What are you doing here?" asked Quackity Karl.

"I can ask you the same thing," Karl replied, eliciting a huff from Quackity.
"Do you want something from me?" asked Quackity. Karl shook his head and now sat down at the edge of the pool. His legs dipped into the water and he grinned at the pleasant cold. Gently he rocked his legs in the water and was within reach of Quackity.

"You love the water? I didn't want to watch you, but you were very-" Karl was interrupted.
"Yes. I prefer to swim alone. At night, when no one is awake to bother me," Quackity said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His gaze was fixed past Karl, staring longingly up at the outline of the moon. After Karl's integration into the classroom, the move to Wilbur, and the jealousy he felt when Karl and Sapnap were together, Quackity needed some distraction. Karl's current presence only made him angry.

Karl started laughing instead.
"I'm sorry. Sapnap had told me about the pool today and because I couldn't sleep, I wanted to check it out," Karl looked disappointed and a little sad. Quackity became uncomfortable. Why did he always want to be so rude to him? Yet he liked him and actually wanted to befriend the cute boy from another universe more than anything. On the other hand, he wanted to wring his neck.

"I guess...I can make an exception. Besides, I'm not really allowed to swim at night anyway, and I don't want you to tell," Quackity explained, his cheeks slowly turning red.
"Then I guess you'll just have to kill me so I don't tell anyone," Karl whispered, grinning furtively at him.
"Maybe I will," Quackity said conspiratorially, flapping his wings softly.

"Then try it!" shouted Karl loudly, and threw himself into the water on top of Quackity. Quackity's eyes widened, and as he broke through the surface of the water with Karl, he prayed that no one had heard him. Getting caught would not be positive for his already crowded school record.